NIB's rejection of a takeover offer and executive salaries were the two big topics at an often-heated annual general meeting yesterday that ran for more than three hours.
About 200 people attended the meeting at Newcastle City Hall, with former federal Liberal Party president and stock exchange chairman John Valder admonishing the company from the floor for its conduct during the takeover bid.
NIB chairman Keith Lynch declined to say when the still-unidentified suitor had made its first approach, but NIB only told the Australian stock exchange on Monday.
The offer had valued NIB at between about $1.15 and $1.20 a share when its stock was trading at about 65 cents.
Almost an hour of the meeting was taken up with debate about the takeover offer, with Mr Valder applauded repeatedly for his attacks on the NIB board, which he called "arrogant".
"It's not what you think it should be worth, it's what it is worth that's the issue here," Mr Valder said.
"Here we are facing a recession or even a depression and you people say that something approaching double the market price is below value.
"How are you going to justify that?"
Australian Shareholders' Association spokesman Will Rogers criticised NIB over some of its results but congratulated it for an executive pay system that linked bonus size to earnings per share.
Other shareholders were not so kind, forcing Mr Lynch to admit that he probably only worked two or three days a week for his $250,000 salary.
Mr Lynch defended the $2.3 million paid to chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon in the year ending June 30, saying it was inflated by a series of "one-off" payments related to NIB's demutualisation and listing on the Australian stock exchange.
Mr Fitzgibbon said it was not for him to say whether his salary was fair or not, but he won support from an otherwise hostile audience when he said: "Intrinsically, I don't believe that I am worth 100 times another person but it's what you can get on the market.
"But I believe [my pay] is totally in line with the market."
Former NIB chairman Col Rogers said Medibank Private was about five or six times the size of NIB but its chief executive was paid $1.153 million.
Mr Lynch said the comparable part of Mr Fitzgibbon's salary amounted to $774,000, which showed the two companies were in line on their executive payments.
Despite the hostile reception from many at the meeting, NIB shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the various board resolutions, including the executive remuneration packages.
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